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Getting Organized Leads To Saving Money

Getting Organized Leads To Saving Money

Donation Aid At School

Getting Organized Leads To Saving Money

PHOTO COURTESY OF DENIECE SCHOFIELD Deniece Schofield will lead two Get Organized seminars at the Sleep Inn and Suites in Van Buren. The first is slated from 7-9 p.m. Friday and from 10 a.m. to noon Oct. 19.

Get Organized

• Store infrequently used objects. People tend to place things they rarely use in easily accessible spots, then

complain that they have no space.

• Organize a room using four boxes labeled: trash, donate, belongs in another room, don’t know. Place

everything you don’t use or look at into one of those boxes. Then toss the trash, place the donation box in

your car, return items to their rightful place and put the don’t know box in the attic or garage or other out of

the way place. If you don’t open that box in a year or 6 months, get rid of it.

• Stop perfectionism. Don’t let an imperfect situation be an excuse to do nothing. Even if you don’t have

time to wash all the windows, you might have time to wash one. Learn to be happy with doing things in

incremental bits of time. Large blocks of time are too hard to come by.

• If you feel overwhelmed, try the tidbit method. Instead of one room at a time, tackle one drawer or one

corner at a time.

• Organize with a buddy. A friend can be objective about your belongings and help you be more realistic.

• Use drawer dividers in your kitchen, bathroom and desk, and your space will multiply. Don’t forget to use

containers on shelves. You can handle several things as one unit and convert your shelves into drawers

making the items in the back as visible as those in the front.

• Label all containers. That way, everyone knows where things belong.

• Whenever possible, store thing where they’re used, even if that means duplicating some items.

• Maintenance is the key to keeping things organized. Once the room is clean, spend five minutes a day

keeping it that way.

• Limit toys. If toys are a problem, perhaps there are too many. Toss broken toys, then donate the extras.

Or place some of the toys in a box and store for a while. Every so often rotate them back in. Voila – new

toys!

• Eliminate floating bits of paper by writing down everything you need to remember, including appointments

and your to do list in a daily planner. Use the planner to transfer information from incoming paper, too,

such as invitations, meetings, parties, etc. Once you’ve transferred the info, toss the invitation. To limit

Those piles of clutter in the living room and bedrooms aren’t just creating an obstacle course through the home — they can also be costing the homeowner money.

“When things aren’t organized, they aren’t well taken care of,” explained Deniece Schofield, a home management and organization expert who will lead two Get Organized seminars Friday and Oct. 19 in Van Buren.

Schofield said when things are organized, homeowners are able to keep proper inventory of items, saving money by not having to purchase costly replacements.

“My oldest child and my youngest child did the same puzzles because we didn’t lose any pieces,” Schofield, author of “Confessions of an Organized Homemaker” and “Kitchen Organization Tips and Secrets,” along with three other home management and organization books, said during a telephone interview. “Buying something you already have at home but don’t want to look for — or can’t find — is a billion-dollar business.”

Schofield suggested that vehicles that are properly maintained can save a car owner thousands of dollars each year, while appliances will last longer if taken care of according to manufacturer’s instructions.

“Easy access to owner’s manuals will assure that you use things correctly and maintain them,” Schofield said. “That will save not only money but time.”

Having important paperwork filed and easily accessible can also save money. Schofield said one of her clients loses thousands of dollars each year in income tax deductions because of his disorganization.

“He can’t claim (the deductions) because he is unable to locate the substantiating data,” she explained.

Another client, who owns a 52-unit storage-unit business, is unable to rent half of the units.

“Twenty-six units she can’t rent out because they are filled with her stuff preventing her from collecting revenue on those storage facilities,” Schofield said. “That’s a huge amount of money not being organized costs her.”

Chaos can also bring about desperation purchases, something Schofield said she has been guilty of in the past.

She procrastinated about her friend’s upcoming birthday, although she knew it was approaching.

“I stopped at the mall before going to her house — big mistake,” Schofield said. “I grabbed something and spent a lot more money than if I had planned a gift or made something for her.”

Desperation can cause emergency trips to the store, late fees, additional charges, stress and anxiety.

“We do a lot of stuff in desperation,” she added. “That desperation is born out of being unorganized.”

Schofield also recommends marking the expiration dates of savings coupons, gift cards, sales or great deals on a calendar, whether on a smart phone or personal planning calendar.

“If you don’t, that good deal is going to pass you by and you won’t get to take advantage of it,” she said.

Planning menus is another great way to save money, according to Schofield.

She suggests to make a list of 10-15 meals and shop for all the ingredients, marking them and notifying family members that the marked items are for a planned meal and should not be eaten as a snack.

“Then post the list of potential meals on the inside of a kitchen cabinet door,” Schofield said. “Each day — based on your mood, and last-minute activities you’re discovering … you can choose which meal you’ll have that day. Also, the first person home can begin early meal preparations.”

To keep track of basic staple food items in her pantry, Schofield uses a simple sheet of graph paper.

“I list the stuff to the left that I’ve stocked up, like bags of flour,” she explained, adding keeping inventory is a great way to avoid buying something you already have on hand. “Then in the boxes to the right, I put check marks to indicate how many of I have of each item. So for five bags of flour, I have five check marks. As I use one, I’ll put an X through the check mark.

“That’s a low-budget, easy way to do it,” Schofield added.

And for keeping track of other items in your home and garage, Schofield said the website FindThingsFast.com is great for organizing your home or office by entering an inventory of your things.

“If you’re at the store and see and unexpected sale on something, you can check and see if you have one already,” she said. “The Internet can really help you save money if you use it.”

Schofield, who admits she was once an disorganized person who suffered from a chronic case of cluttered closets and negative attitudes, will share the tried-and-true techniques she discovered that allowed her to manage her home and family during two different Get Organized seminars, slated from 7-9 p.m. Friday and another from 10 a.m. to noon Oct. 19 at the Sleep Inn and Suites, 1633 N. 12th Court in Van Buren.

The same information will be presented at both seminars, so a person only needs to attend one, Schofield said.

Cost, including handouts, is $20, payable at the door; no reservations are required.